It's almost that time of year.... back to school time! I don't work in the schools anymore but I cannot help but get giddy when I see school supplies. This time of year always motivates me to reorganize and put myself back in order. You should see my desk right now. Chaos!

A few weeks ago I found these insanely adorable clipart pages from Tracey Gurley Designs and could not resist snagging some pages up. I am a huge Lilly Pulitzer fan so of course I instantly fell in love and created binder covers.

Binders are my saving grace for staying organized. Give me a cute cover, some dividers, and page protectors and I am a happy girl. I have binders for my student data, a binder for my students' goals (that's also where I keep notes and go-to activities/worksheets for them). I keep a binder for all the hiring information I use for the company I work for. I even have a binder just for my smash mats :)

I added these to my store and made them editable so you can customize them to your needs!

Not a day goes by that I don't hear something on the news or from a student about the Pokemon Go app! I have not personally played it, but I can feel the excitement about the game so I decided to make a speech version! I thought this would be the perfect back to school game to get your students excited about speech... I would like to introduce you to Articulation MOVE!

This activity includes a cell phone for each child and adorable little articulation monsters. Before you play, print, cut, and laminate the phones and monsters. I cut out the middle section of the phones so can see through them.

Before the students come into your room, hide the monsters around the room. Then, give each child a phone and let them go hunting for target speech words! This activity includes sounds for /p, b, d, t, m, n, w, s, z, sh, ch, th, and r/ so you can use this with large groups or even for center work!

I also included some accountability worksheets so the kids can record the words they found. I included a worksheet for listing the words, recognizing their target sound in the words, and making a sentence for the words they find.

I plan on making versions of this game for letters, sight words, basic concepts, and other common goals. Please comment below and let me know what goal you could use this with!

You can download your own copy of Articulation Move in my TpT store here!

Last year when I found out that the Teachers Pay Teachers conference was going to be in Orlando this year, I was beyond excited. TpT has been a huge part of my life the last 3 years. There was no way I was going to miss the opportunity to learn from some of TpT's greatest teacher authors when they were practically in my own backyard.

I would have to say my favorite part of the conference was getting to be with some of my most favorite people in the world, my SLP blogging tribe. I love these girls more than I can express. We are spread out all over the country but these ladies have helped motivate me and have molded me into the therapist I am today.

If I were to write a blog post about all the amazing things I learned at the conference, this post would be 500 pages long. But there was one thing that a certain speaker said that really spoke to me. I was sitting in Shelly Rees presentation about product planning. She shared a personal story about her TpT journey and her success. But then she added... "This was my season. Today isn't everybody's season." Amen. Isn't that the truth? I am constantly trying to keep up with crazy successful sellers. I feel guilty when I only blog once a month (If I am lucky!) But I have two small children at home. I work. I mentor. I am a soccer mom. A dance mom. A baseball mom. I have a full plate. I absolutely love every part of my life, but maybe this time isn't my season on TpT. So I decided to stop pressuring myself to be one of the best (I think perfectionism comes with an SLPs personality type!) My time will come. I think this is something we can all carry into our lives. Don't compare yourself to your coworkers, other moms, etc. We all have our own story and our own busy lives. Embrace what's going on in your life right now and be the best at that. The rest will come later.

...and on the note, the baby is up from his nap. I'm coming Kameron! :)

Psst... one more thing. I am still on a conference high and want to share the love. I am giving away $10 TpT gift cards on my Instagram (@simply_speech) right now. Go enter, winners will be announced Tuesday!